The truth of Isabella Shepard: Before the Normandy
by Shoppers55
Summary: So many stories have been told of me. So I have decided to write down what happened to me. (With help from my friends.) You may think you know but you don't. So before someone else decides to tell my story, I will. This is what happened to me, Isabella rodriguez Shepard before the Normandy. Bioware owns all Mass Effect characters.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: The Biotic Freak – Isabella Aged 10**

"Why did you do it!" head carer Anna Crezik yells at me. "They were asking for it." I replied simply. Totally true but since I accidently used my biotics on them it immediately became my fault.

 _Twenty minutes earlier:_

I am standing in front of the full length mirror in mine and Sasha's room at the Patricia's house in London (aka the place where you leave the children you can't or won't look after). Looking at my refection and what do I see? The same scrawny girl, small for ten years old with baggy second-hand clothes that still don't fit a year after having them dumped on me after another girl got adopted with messy red hair at shoulder length that looks like it could do with a cut. I don't normally look at my reflection but as its visitor's day I thought I should at least make an attempt to look presentable. I try not to look at my worst feature, the one blue eye and one green eye. One of the reasons no one talks me (the other being my biotics.)

"You look great as always Izzy" Sasha sighs. "I don't. Stop lying!" I reply angrily. With the look of hurt on her face I go over and sit at the end of her bed. "You are wayyyy prettier than me. If you let them I am sure someone will come and talk to you." I say with a smile. I mean it too with big blue eyes, blond eyes and a nice clean dress. If she didn't stick like glue to me most of the time she could have been out of here three years ago. But for reasons I could never understand she won't leave without me.

"Not if they don't wanna talk to you too." She says to me sulkily. I try to think of something to say back to her but it never works and to be honest, I just want to get this over with.

So I stand up and say with forced enthusiasm "Let's go and see if any of the posh gits want to get to know us." Sasha takes my hand and we go and join the other 5-10 year old girls that are lining up in the hallway.

At 10am one of the assistant carer's takes us all to the play room before all of the adults arrive. The other girls go off to pick up and play with their favourite toys or to play some game where half the pieces are missing or is played on our only onmi-tool, I meanwhile take Sasha over to the small bookcase in the corner so I can go and read a book that I haven't read 20 times already and pretend that none of this is happening and sit with my back to the door. "What are you doing! If you do that, the good people will all go and talk to the more interesting kids." Sasha states to me quickly. "Don't care." I respond "Come onnnnn Izzy if have to at least try."

I did the first few times 'the house' had one of these days. I would go and play with the other kids, talk to the adults, smile lots and try to look adorable. If they could get see past my eyes, the next step would always cause them to run a mile. When they tell them that I have biotic abilities (I glow blue and can sometimes when really angry push things). The smiles that they had worn would disappear and then they would state that they couldn't deal with a child with my 'difficulties' (or for the less enlightened minds 'me no want freak'). So after 5 years here I have stopped trying.

"You go if you want Sas, I am quite happy here thanks." I glance from the book I was deciding to read and see her face turn red with anger. "FINE I WILL! I'll fine some nice people and they'll take me away from your stupid face!" Then she storms off and joins some of the other girls playing with the latest holo-game.

I try not to let her get to me. After being left at a hospital after being diagnosed as a biotic at 5 years old I am seriously slow to trust or let anyone in any more. (Sasha got there before I totally hardened.) So I go back to reading while the others start enjoying themselves.

 _Ten minutes ago:_

They'll start letting in people soon, the carers like us to look happy before they let the adults in. As I start trying to shut out the rest of the world while I read, I hear Sasha scream.

I look at her as she starts to cry as two of the other girls (who I call pugly because she's ugly and farty because she farts ALOT) stand between her and the game. "How did you do that!" pugly shouts. "I-I only moved the piece where I could… not my fault you didn't protect your castle probably." Sasha sniffs. "Liar, liar" farty sings songs as she pushes her over.

I get angry. No one treats one of my few friends like that, so I march over to them not even noticing the blue energy dancing between my fingers. So as pugly and farty go to pick Sasha up I push them with the biotic energy I didn't realise I had been drawing and they go flying to the other side of the room and hit the wall with a crash. As they slowly get up I can see blood dripping down their heads from where they hit the wall.

"Wh-Why did you do that? You know what they will d-do. I-I could have handled them." Sasha cries to me through her tears. Both pugly and farty sneer at me and in unison shout "HELP!" before putting on fake tears.

The door bursts open and I can see the adults through the door and even though there are a number of girls in the room the head carer yells at me "Isabella! Go to my room!"

 _Now:_

I sit there and listen bored out of my mind as Anna berates me for 'protecting' my friend.

"What am I going to do with you?" she sighs, I shrug my shoulders unsure what to say at this point only knowing that I am in deep trouble. "Confining you, extra chores, exercise and talking to you. Nothing I do stops this behaviour. We might have to seriously consider getting outside help, no one seems to know what to do with you biotics." Looking at me with tired eyes "go to your room. STAY there until further notice."

I smile sweetly at her and walk out.

Halfway back I bump into John, the only other person I can tolerate in this place, little over 11 years old with brown eyes and brown hair. Learning against the wall smirking he looks at me. "In trouble again? Visiting's only just started." "They were bullying her again. I hate bullies." I shoot back.

We walk back to my room in silence then he sits next to me on my bed. Our hands touch and I can't help but blush. Why does this happen whenever he is near? He looks me straight in the eyes. "We don't fit here do we?" I know what he means, no one want him either. Just because his parents did some bad stuff, they think he's bad too. So I nod back at him.

"Why don't we run away?" he states to me seriously. "We can do it. We're smart." He gets up and starts pacing the room. "We can find a place where we belong."

I can't help but wonder if he is being serious? Run away? "You're joking right?" He shakes his head. He looks straight into my eyes, pleading for me to agree. So I start thinking about it. Going through scenarios. Thinking of places we could go. How to get food, water and money. I know we will end up back here in even worse trouble. But I think I want to try. So I jump up, take his hands and say "Sure why not."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The Escape – Isabella Aged 10**

So we sit there and plan. How do we escape? Where do we first go? For how long? What should we bring with us?

I feel happy. My whole world is going to change, I am going to be in charge of my life for once. To do what I want (with some consideration for John of course) when I want. I'll have to write a letter to Sasha of course, say I'm sorry, why she is better off here where she can finally get the family I know she dreams of again.

"First things first." John looks at me. "You need to learn to behave." I look at him in mock shock. "You don't think I can?" He snorts. "As long as you stay away from pguly and farty I think you'll be fine." I nod back they really do have a knack for getting under my skin. "You can't tell Sasha either." I sigh "I know she's better off here."

So for the next few days we meet up privately wherever we can to discuss the finer details of the plan. We collect food from the cafeteria, rucksacks from the storage room, utensils from the kitchen and extra clothes from the donations (stuff that fits us now and clothes we will need in the future when we are bigger).

We store all of these things in the old treehouse in the garden. Since the tree started falling about no one goes up there, not allowed. So we think it's the best place as our rooms get cleaned regularly and they will be able to spot a running away kit a mile off.

We've also decided when we are going, next week is Christmas Eve and due to it being the holidays there will be less staff around. So we will find it easier to get out, a couple of boxes piled up and we can get up over the garden wall.

 _Christmas Eve:_

I lay in my bed pretending to be asleep waiting for the last 'patrol' of the night by Anna. When she passes I sit up grab the last of my things and sneakily head to the door so not to disturb Sasha.

As open the door and see John give me the thumbs up that we are ready to go I hear Sasha whisper "So we're ready to go then?" I jump and force my mouth shut to stop the yelp that was about to escape me. "What are you doing!?" I whisper angrily back to her. "Going with you of course." And with that she smiles picks up a small bag and heads to the door.

I block the door. "No way in Hell! You're safe here. You can find a nice family." I plead silently to her. She looks me straight in the eyes. "You said we were family."

I can't help but think. _I knew that was going to come back and bite me on the arse_. When Sas came here I had given up basically. I went through the motions here, and she changed my whole perspective on things. Before her I had chased out any other girl they put in the room with me. I can't always control my biotics. Most of the time, especially when I am asleep and I get scared I lash out with my 'gifts'. I might hit them accidentally or just freak them out with the light show.

But Sasha wasn't like that. The first time it happened, I expected her to run out of the room screaming as the others always did. But instead she asked me if I was okay. I was dumbfounded, that had never happened before so I just blinked at her stupidly. So she asks me if I am scared, I nodded and she got in the bed and just hugged me. I couldn't help it, I just started crying. That was the first time someone didn't act scared when I used my biotics (the second being John of course.)

So after 10 minutes of crying I told her of my dream. The same one I have most nights. Of when I was abandoned at 5 years old at the hospital, after getting my diagnosis my 'mother' had run off. Because of this I don't remember my last name. All I knew was my first name Isabella. They gave me one here but I don't use it, I hate it.

I tell her how I dream that I transform into the monster everybody secretly thinks I am. How I go on to destroy everything and then finally I see the blurry shape that somehow I know if my mother and I kill her too. And just as this is happening she screeches at me that she was right to leave me behind. That's also usually when I wake up and 'push'.

Sasha lays there stroking my hair and telling me that it's okay, she dreams of the skycar accident that killed her parents. That it was her fault because she was arguing with them at the time. I automatically tell her it wasn't her fault, so she tells me I am not a monster.

So after that we spent the next few weeks opening up to each other. Eventually we become best friends. So when she crying one night upset that no-one wants her I tell her that's not true. I want her and if she want I would be her family.

So that brings us back to now and the problem standing in front of me. We don't have much time, so if we don't leave now our escape window would close. So I sigh and say "Okay let's go."

I open the door and John gives me a bewildered look and I just shake my head. "No time, move!" So the three of us go, pick up our bags from the treehouse. We then line up the crates jump over the wall and run.

Even though I don't know what we are going to do, how we are going to survive. I feel happy, whatever happens now we be my choice no one elses.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: A Safe Place – Isabella Aged 10**

I have never seen the streets so empty. As we ran that was all I could think. How with all of the millions of people living in London can the there be no one around? Though thinking about it logically it's a good thing for us.

"Where are we going?" Sasha looks from me to John as she asks. "Might be good to know, in case we run into trouble." How on earth can she say that with a smile? "This isn't a game!" John stops and grabs her shoulders angrily. "Why on Earth is she doing here Isabella?" Sasha's eyes narrow. "Couldn't leave her alone with you, don't trust you." She snipes back.

I could see John's anger growing by the second. I have to stop this now. "Stop it! We have to go now. If anybody sees three children outside, arguing at midnight, on Christmas Eve what are they going to do?" I switch between looking at the both of them while saying this. "Well?"

John releases Sasha. "Your right. Come on then." As we start moving again I can't help but ask. "Where are we going? With all of the planning you never actually said what would happen after we left." I can hear the sound of barely concealed laughter behind me.

Ignoring Sasha behind me here says "you know about my parents, what they wanted to do?" I nod, how could I not know? It was all over the news. John's parents were part of a group that believed humanity should not have left Earth. That this planet was given to us by God and it is the only place we were allowed to be. If he wanted humanity to live on other planets, why not put us there in the first place? Sounds stupid to me, but who knows lots of people like stupid.

So them and people like them created bombs and were planning to blow out the transport ships that were going to the newly discovered inhabitable planets like Mindoir. John's parents were caught planting some of the bombs. Turns out the Alliance knew all about what was happening. One of the lower level players got cold feet. Told the authorities all he knew in exchange for a very light sentence (being sent to do hard labour in a new colony, got to love the irony).

"What about them?" Sas asks. "They tried to keep me out of it, but I heard most of what they were talking about. The plans and the like." I nod at him again, we've been running for a while now and I am getting too tired to do talking, running and breathing. So I concentrate on the last two.

"Well, I heard about their hiding places, where they would go to lay low until the heat died down. The one they were going to use is down at the old Bethnal Green tube station. After they shut down the old underground network, no one goes down there. Especially since there is a locked door there where you need to know a passcode to get through. They knew it so I know it."

Sounds good to me as far as I can tell. If they don't think to look there we can stay free. "The other good thing about it, is there should be supplies there. Food and water etc. At least for a month or two if we ration it out. Though not so sure about that with _her_ here." He narrows his eyes at Sasha again.

I sigh _again_. "We will be fine." I state between gasps. He looks away and we spend the rest of the 50 minute journey in silence.

We get to the old station, slip through the fencing and get to the locked door. John tries the passcode and we get the incorrect answer buzz. I hear Sasha huff behind me " _knew_ you were lying." I can't help but think: _this is going to be a looooong month_. "Let. Me. Think." He shoots back through gritted teeth.

So after pacing up and down the room a couple of times he tries again. This time we get the correct passcode buzz. "Phew, must of remembered it wrong." " _You think?_ " Sasha replies sarcastically.

I walk past them, ignoring them both and go down the stairs into the station. I stop at the bottom of the stairs where the lights from the opened door ends. _Looks old and creepy, better not be any ghosts down_ here I think to myself. "Here a torch." John hands one over to me.

"We need to find the control room. My parents hacked the system, so we should be able to get the lights on." Sasha sticks close to me (we only have two torches and lus I get to pretend to be brave.). "It's safe right, n-no one's going to get us?" I turn her around so that we are face to face. "The only people who have been down here are John's parents." I look at him. "Right?" He comes over and gives what I think is a reassuring pat on Sasha's shoulder which causes her to jump and states in a confident tone. "Right."

John walks off in don the hallway and we follow him assuming he knows the way. Once we get to a junction he starts walking down the left route and as we start to follow him, he stops and turns around. "What are you doing?" He looks at the both of us. "Following you?" I say slowly. "Why?" Again I say slowly back with a hint of sarcasm. "Because _you_ know the way?"

I can't tell for certain but I am sure he blushes at this point. "I-I don't actually know where the control room is." He stutters back at me. At this point if she wasn't so scared I am sure that Sas would have started laughing at this point. Instead I grab her hand and say "fine I will take the right hallway and I will shout if we find it."

We walk along the hallway pointing the touch at the doors hoping to find a sign that states 'Control Room'. "This is why I didn't want you to come." I can't help but say it feeling her hand shaking in mine. "I-I'm f-f-fine." I choose not to argue back, I really don't have the energy.

A couple of minutes later we find it. I shout out and I can hear John come running. "Great." He smiles at me and walks through the door. He boots up the laptop that seems to be wired into the panel. After doing some computer stuff the lights start flickering on. "Good let's find the supplies." I look at Sas, she nods back and now with the lights back on she seems less scared.

We find them on the platform (A largish crate/chest). I can't help but voice my thoughts at this point. "You're sure this is fine?" He opens the chest. "The food that is in here, beans and stuff that's the sort of stuff that can last a while." He is right, I look at one of the cans and we are still before the used by date.

I look around, the place sure needs a lot of work but I can't help but think: _this could be home_.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Terra Firma – Isabella aged 14**

I checked both sides of the road and then risked a quick look to the sky before running to the old tube entrance. Always best to check before entering the station, we don't want anyone finding out about our home.

As I type in the code to open the door I couldn't help thinking about all that has happened since we got here. We managed to get through that first month in one piece, after the constant sniping between Sasha and John ran out and they started talking to each other sensibly they found a couple of things to bond over. One of them being my fear of spiders. That place had a LOT of spiders. Cleaning the place up took a couple of weeks and well, trying to discreetly edge out of the room whenever cobwebs appeared was quickly noticed. And so a new game was created which in summary was basically finding spiders and then placing them in my stuff and watching my reaction when I found them. (Just so you know this usually meant jumping/screaming or swearing then chasing the both of them with whatever weapon I could fins close to hand while they laughed their heads off.)

As we started running out of food and water we decided to venture out. Thinking back on it now I don't really know how we survived. The hollow days when we had nothing or the days where we got our food from the garbage bins. But in the end we found our system and it worked. Most days Sasha gets the most credits. She can do a really good woe is me face. Put her in a good spot (preferably with no cops around) and she can rake it in.

John would go around the big stores finding where they emptied their bins and seeing if they left anything good. (Seriously people bin a lot of good stuff.) This was how we found a lot of the furniture we have down here. The trick was getting it here without anyone noticing. But with a couple of chairs, some mattresses, bed covers, plates etc. It ended up feeling quite homely.

Myself? Well a combination of things. I have gotten really good with using my biotics. My trick was finding someone flashing around their credit chits, waiting until we were in a quiet place and then using a very small amount of power to levitate it out of their pockets and then get the hell out of dodge. Then if I am having a good day I would go to a derelict building and practise what I could do. You know moving rocks about until I feel like I am going to pass out, seeing how far I could throw them. That sort of stuff. I've seen vids of biotics doing all sort of complicated shit like warps and detonations but well I can't figure it out on my own so I stick to the basics. Recently I have had some success with barriers, as long as you don't apply to much pressure against them.

Once I open the doors I find Sasha leaning against the wall. "That must be a record, no new strays in a month! I am impressed." She then puts her hands on her hips and gives me a nod. I can't decide if she is really sincerely impressed or not.

"You know I don't do that anymore." I say back exasperated, feeling my shoulders drop a bit. When I was out and about looking for easy marks, I couldn't help noticing the other people that were around who were just like me. So if they looked truly desperate/trustworthy I would bring them back, though they would only get the passcode to the door when the three of us agreed. Most of them didn't stay long enough for that.

Only two people so far have stayed here with us: Mary Shepard and Edward Campton. Mary is over 60 years old and used to be a nurse before getting fired after developing a gambling addiction. She has greying hair and kind blue eyes and is a little too thin. She has ended up being a mother figure to the rest of us. Unlike at the home it has never felt forced, she really truly scares about us.

Whenever one of us gets hurt or ill she knows what to do. Because of her we have never needed to go to a doctor. She seems to ignore the fact that we are growing up but I usually let it slide. She's also really good at finding clothes for us that suit us and/or don't make us stand out.

Edward is the brains of the place. I always thought he should be in Mensa or something. He's tall, has brown hair and eyes. He originally came here to study from America. There are times where I am not sure if he is mentally unwell. He believes every conspiracy theory he comes across. The latest one is that the Alliance is purposely causing Eezo accidents to create a biotic army. We go along with his theories. Otherwise he gets extremely agitated.

I am sooooo glad that we let him stay with us. He was able to fiddle with whatever Johns' parents did, so that we could use the power from the lights for other means. For the vast majority of the time this means watching TV. My favourite TV has and always will be the old fairy-tale movies. I don't know why, but there is something I just love about the stories. The hero, the villain, the love interest, you know pretty much everything. Sometimes I wonder if it is just the fact that it is one of the only times when all of us are in the same room. _I love that._

The last person we had here was a girl named Amy and she stole all the credits we had. After that, looking at how much it affected everyone. I've stopped bringing people back. It hurts seeing other people in turmoil but what else can I do?

Sasha grabs my hand. "Come on and get ready, the meeting's going to start so and we don't want to be late!" she eagerly says to me. I try not to groan. _Why does she like them so much?_ "Okay, just let me get changed first" is all I can manage in response.

So I try to look enthusiastic as I walk to my 'room'. Basically this consists of a mattress, cover, a small desk of drawers and some curtains so we all have a small measure of privacy. I dig around to find some clean respectable clothes otherwise they won't let us in ( _oh no the horror!_ ) I settle on a black jumper and trousers. The jumper ends up being tight on my. I must have started another growth spurt.

 _Sas is going to love this_. Recently I have noticed that Sasha is now slightly taller than me. When I pointed this out to her, all she good do is grin at me and say. "Yeah I know, you're growing in a different direction." I blushed and ran from her only to run into John.

"You okay?" he asks me. I nod trying to avoid eye contact. He rubs the back of his head nervously and mumbles "I don't mind." Now I do look at him, I can't hide the quizzical look on my face. Turning red he says "The direction you're growing." After that confession I hid from him for the rest of the day.

 _Enough reminiscing you need to go_ I think to myself. So I leave my 'room' and see Ms Shepard standing in front of me. _Uh Oh_. She has her arms crossed in front of her and a stern expression on her face. "Please tell me you are not going where I think you're going?"

I look her straight in the eyes, trying not to sound guilty when I say "N-Nowhere special. Sas just wants to have a walk." All she does is raise one eyebrow. It's quite easy to interpret what this means. _No really, want are you doing?_

Sasha then re-appears saving me having to think up some sort of lie. Ignoring Ms Shepard completely she walks up to me. "Ignore her, just because she believes the Alliance' lies doesn't mean we have to. Stop talking to the traitor we need to go!"

I can't help looking stunned. Sasha is always usually so polite to everybody. When I can get my mouth working all I can think to say is "she didn't mean that Ms Shepard." That earns me a glare back from Sasha. " _Why_ do you keep calling her that? Her name is _Mary_. You don't mind me calling you _Mary_ do you _Mary_?" you can't miss the sarcasm on the Marys'.

Before she can respond Sasha huffs "Meet you outside Izzy." Glares at Ms Shepard and storms off. I turn to Ms Shepard and say. "Sorry." "You have got to stop to stop going to those meetings." She responds to me seriously. "I can't" then I walk off following Sasha once I spot her at the stairs.

 _They make her happy_. That's what I won't she to her. Once we got into a routine here a year or so ago, Sasha started getting depressed. With all of the free time we have here, her mind kept going back to the accident that took her parents' lives. She started taking risks when we were going out to work. I was going out of my mind with worry.

The one day she came across a flyer, one that someone had left on the ground. On it, it states in block capitals "THE ALLIANCE IS LYING TO YOU. THEY HAVE SOLD US TO THE COUNCIL RACES. HUMANITY IS NO LONGER THERE PRIORITY. IF YOU SEEK THE TRUTH, COME TO ST. ANDERWS' CHURCH. WE BELIEVE IN HUMANITY"

I don't really know why this resonated so much with her. But we went and now Sasha is a loyal believer of the cause. Me? I don't believe a word that comes out of the mouths of Terra Firma or their lead prophet Charles Saracino.

 **Author Note:** Thanks for reading! Got my first follow last week!


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Isabella aged 14 The Plan**

As we walked over to the church I let Sasha get ahead of me. Once she was a safe distance away I got my earphones out of my pockets and discreetly put them in my ears, making sure that it is linked up to my omni-tool and that my audio tape is ready.

I detest these meetings. Maybe it's being a biotic, being the object of most people's hate. I just can't listen to other people saying things about aliens that in all honesty they would say to me given the chance. So as we enter the hall I press play and settle into my seat making sure I look at the door as Charles enters.

Today as he Lectures us _again_ on how humanity is being weakened by the Salarians innovations, the Turians might or the Asaris 'mating' us out of existence, I am listening about the Turian Unification War. I can't help but see the similarities between us and the Turians. Just as our outer colonies are declaring their independence from the Alliance, so did theirs from the Hierarchy. If things continue on as they, war could erupt. But old Charles here doesn't care about that.

As long as I clap, cheer and generally wave my arms around no one is the wiser. It's only when Sasha nudges me that I realise that something is different today as Charles walks around the room.

"Uhhhhhhhh" is all I can manage as Sas stares at me intently.

"Well? Are you in then? We'll only get one chance at this." _Uh oh, methinks I've missed something important._

I rub the back of my head and say with gusto. "Sure why not!"

"Good, good. Then that's settled then! I will see the chosen again once they have completed their mission." Charles said behind me enthusiastically. Which scared the shit out of me.

After that, the meeting ended abruptly and we all went our separate ways. Once we were a safe distance away from everyone else on the way home I turned to Sasha and say sheepishly. "So what did I just agree to?"

Sasha turns to me with her hands on her hips. _Doing an excellent impression of Ms Shepard by the way._ I can see the barely repressed anger radiating off of her as she explains what the plan actually is. Near the Battersea power plant is an old Eezo engine plant dating back before the discovery of the Charon Relay. Apparently there is a clean-up operation going on at the plant.

What Terra Firma wants to do is to go in under the Cover of darkness and steal one of the old engines. Our job would be to distract the guards ( _acting as damsels in distress as all good girls can do.)_ The others would then sneak behind them and knock them out. This would allow us to then go in and steal our prize.

"Are you **insane**!?" is all I can manage in response. "This isn't going to work and there is no way in **hell** , we are helping."

"I knew it. You've never listened to the truth being spoken in there have you?" she sneers at me. "This is the first step. In the future we can rid humanity of the alien influence." she puts her hands on my shoulders. "We can cure you."

"I'm sorry **what**!" I yell back.

I can't believe she just said that. She knows how much I have struggled with my biotic abilities. How it has taken the last couple of years to finally accept that this is what I am. When I said that I am happy with myself, that I like what looks back at me in the mirror. Sasha was one of the first to congratulate me. And now she has the gall to look me in the face and say that. _Fuck that_.

"Do not **touch** me!" I yell in her face. "After everything we have been through. How could you?" I almost sob at her.

"It's because of everything we have been through that I am doing this. You will be normal and happy. You'll see." she pleads at me.

At this point I can't think of anything to say to her. So I give her the best disgusted look that I can conjure up and turn on my heels and run home. I risk a look back and I can see her just standing there looking hurt. _Good that serves her right._

When I get back home I manage to get into my 'room' before dissolving into tears. After a few minutes of tears I hear John outside the curtain.

"May I come in?" He asks politely.

"Sure okay" I manage between tears. Trying to quickly get rid of them before he can see them.

He settles down beside me and puts his arm around me.

"Do you want to tell me what happened between you and Sasha?" he asks kindly.

So I tell him everything that transpired earlier with Sasha and her 'cure' speech. After speaking I can't help but feel a little better. Maybe I can see her point if only a tiny little bit. I suppose I have complained (a lot) about my biotics.

"If you're a freak, then I'm a freak. And us freaks have stick together." he says to me to cheer me up.

"Thanks." That's all I can manage back.

At this point he tilts my head so that it is facing his. He moves forward and kisses me gently on the lips. After a couple of seconds he leans back and smiles at me. He then goes to say something but I stop him by kissing him back. Allowing the kiss to become more passionate after a couple of seconds. Once I realise he isn't going to stop anytime soon I gently push him off.

"Sorry. Can we just lay here a while?" _I know that I am going to turn bright red at this next bit_. "I-I feel safe with you."

He smiles and says "Okay". So we settle down on the bed.

I can't remember when but at some point I drift off to sleep.

 _A couple of hours later:_

I feel John moving beside me.

"Is it important? Izzy has had a long day." I hear John whisper to someone.

"Yes. She hasn't come back yet and Isabella was the last person to see her." After shaking off my fuzzy head I realise that it is Ms Shepard speaking.

It takes me a couple of seconds for my brain to register who she is talking about. "Sasha isn't back yet?" She shakes her head.

"Oh that stupid **stupid** idiot" I shout.

I quickly get to my feet and explain everything that happened during and after the Terra Firma meeting. At the mention of Eezo I see Edward walk over and start listening to what we are talking about.

After I finish explaining I state "We have to go to the plant and stop her from doing anything dangerous."

At this point Edward speaks for the first time in the conversation. "No, no you can't! This is exactly what I have been telling you about. It's a trap! They what to expose you to Eezo and see what happens!"

He starts gesticulating wildly and moves over to his stuff. "I've got proof. Lots of it. These constant 'Eezo' accidents aren't accidents. There's going to be another one tonight you see." And with that he starts pulling out newspaper clippings.

I ignore him. I don't have time to listen to his nonsense. "Come on. We have to go!"

"I'm coming with you." Ms Shepard walks up to me automatically assuming John will come. _Of course he is, John would never let me down_. I think to myself.

"You can't come Ms Shepard it might be dangerous." I say to her worriedly.

"Isabella. I am adult. I know what I am doing better than you. If you think I am going to let you two go off into danger on your own you have another thing coming." She then puts on her coat and walks to the exit.

"Anyway, I need to have a world with _these_ people. Leading children into danger and filling their heads with nonsense."

I couldn't help but grin at this statement. You do not want to get Ms Shepard angry. So we rush to the nearest tube station and head to the old Eezo engine plant as fast as we can.

Once there I can feel my suspicion increasing. From what Sasha told me there should be some guards around here. Even unconscious ones. There's a voice getting steadily louder at the back of my head saying Edward was right. Something else is going on here.

"Is this the right place?" John asks me.

"It has to be." I say back in a small voice.

"You two stay behind me. I will take the lead." Ms Shepard whispers to us even though no one is around.

As we past the open gate I feel a shiver run through me and try to keep my mounting fear at bay. We walk through empty corridors and rooms jumping at the slightest noise.

"I wish we brought torches." I hear John say as he kicks a pebble at some very large rats that are scurrying about the place.

 _This is the sort of place where people get murdered in horror movies._ My mind helpfully comes up with.

As we near the part of the facility labelled 'Laboratory' we start to hear voices through a closed door. Ms Shepard turns to us and puts a finger to her lips. _Wow and here I was going to walk up to them and say "hi what are you doing?"_ I think to myself bitterly.

When we were just getting close enough to hear what was being said I heard a noise behind me. Before I could turn around to look I felt something cold pressed against my head.

"Don't move" a male voice states coldly behind me.

I nod, too scared to do anything else. I had a pretty good idea what was pressed against my head. So I moved ahead of the others not realising that the exact same thing had happened to John and that Ms Shepard after hearing the voice had also turned around to see what on earth was happening, had obeyed the instructions as well.

As I pushed open the door I saw Sasha huddled on the floor back against the wall and another man walking up and down the room with a gun held in his hand. He was an older gentlemen and had greying hair with bright blue eyes that stood out even with the bluish uniform he was wearing. At the time I couldn't think where it was from.

He moved to the men behind them and claps them on the shoulders.

"Excellent! Excellent!" he said happily. "Some more volunteers. After those other rude gentleman ran away. What good fortune!"

I ignore him and move over to Sasha taking her into my arms. She startles at first but once she understands that it is me she settles down and starts crying onto my shoulder. John also comes over and hugs us both.

The man in charge then comes over to us. "Yes I think we will have better luck with younger subjects". He said to himself.

"Roberts, Hanover put them in."

I look up in time to see two other men who were in the room not making a sound until then salute the man who was talking and pick us up. I struggle, John tries to hit the man that grabs him but he is too strong. Then before Ms Shepard can intervene the greying man points his gun at her.

Sasha starts screaming. "No, **NO** I don't what to die!"

The greying man smiles at us. "Don't worry. Young people like yourselves. Your bodies are already going through such changes. One more won't hurt."

As we are tossed into the room. I hear the doors close and the door lock. It doesn't stop me from running up to them and try breaking them down. John joins me after a couple of seconds. I wonder when Sasha will help when I hear her start to speak behind us.

"It's reinforced. The others all tried that."

Before I can respond to her I hear the sound of something starting up, gaining power. I grab Sasha.

"What is going on?" I say to her calmly. _How on earth I am calm!? We're all going to die aren't we?_

She points to the back of the room. "They want to see what happens when we are exposed to the Eezo."

Maybe it's the situation. Or the brain trying not to be overwhelmed, but all I can think is. _Well son of a gun, Edward was right._ I look around the room. There isn't anything we can use that might help us escape.

I look at them both. Seeing the desperation growing in their eyes. I say "Quickly up against the wall."

They hurriedly obey me. _Only when we are in trouble do they listen to me._ As we reach the wall I try and ignore the questions they throw at me. I close my eyes and focus in on myself and try to bring up as much energy as I can to form a barrier around the three of us. When they stop speaking I am sure it is working. _Why didn't I think of this before? When the men were grabbing us?_ I berate myself silently.

As the first wave of energy rips free from the engine I congratulate myself. _This is working!_ It's only when I hear Sasha start screaming that I know something is wrong. I open my eyes and I notice that my barrier is not helping at all. That somehow the energy is collecting itself around my arms and legs. That it is passing right through the others.

As I try to take down the barrier as it isn't helping at all, it doesn't drop and I can't stop pouring energy into it. _What's happening!?_ I think. As I keep trying to bring the barrier down, pain explodes through my body and keeps growing. As the pain gets too much for me to bear, I collapse.

As I drift at the edge of consciousness's. The engine stops and I hear a voice.

"I think we have some candidates for stage 2."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Dr Denna Va'Senna aged 754 Experimentation**

I walk up to the door and look at the human guard expectantly. Waiting for them to announce my presence to those inside. After a few moments I look at him. He has turned bright red and seems incapable of speech. _What's that word I read earlier? The one about an offshoot of humanity that died out? Ah yes, a Neanderthal. This human is a Neanderthal._ Though I am not remotely surprised. When a purple skinned Asari Matriarch walks into a room, the less subtle races eyes linger a bit too long.

When I tut at him, he shakes himself and then opens the door introducing me to the two admirals seated behind the desk. I sit on the seat provided in front of it oozing confidence.

 _Why oh goddess do I have to speak first?_ "Ladies and gentlemen shall we start?" I ask them professionally.

 _It's either that or slap one of them._ I wish I wasn't here but what other choice do I have? With a 'leave of absence' being forced on me by Theesia's top university. And for what? A little accident? The poor maiden will suffer no lasting effects from the experiment. She wanted to help. But because her parents are influential **I** have to suffer. 30 years where I can't work in my lab.

So if I am to continue my all important work I have to venture outside the sphere of Thessia's reach. Which means going to somewhere like this 'new' species world of Earth. _When word gets out I am never going to live this down._ I shudder at the thought. How they will laugh seeing me work with these people who have no idea what they are doing. And for me to have to be interviewed as well?

The left admiral speaks "Doctor, we have read some of your work. Fascinating stuff."

 _I try not to roll my eyes at that comment._ The right admiral then speaks "From what we have learnt you are one of the leading experts in the field of Biotics. How they are used, their training and how to help those… less able."

Then the left admiral, the one with greying hair and blue eyes asks "Why would you want to work with the 'newbies' in this world. Hm… you are certainly more experienced than the others we have heard from so far."

The right admiral, a woman younger than the man _I think_ as her hair has colour to it. A nice blond continues tilting her head slightly. "It makes us wonder why you would want to work here? With us?"

So I give them the speech that I had prepared a few days ago. About how it is the council race's obligation to help the newer races acclimatise to their new world. To offer help _for a modest reward_ when we can. Especially when a race is struggling with something that they do not understand.

Of course I don't tell them about my forced leave of absence or the other reason I have come here. To advance my own personal project. To give myself actual biotic abilities. You see I am one of the less than 1% of Asari born with little to no Biotic gifts. I can lift extremely small pebbles but that is about it. Humiliating when all of others in your class can do wondrous things.

So when I couldn't listen to their insults anymore I studied. I've never stopped really. Anything to do with biotics I have learnt. All for my one goal. Which I am so close to now. I just need to find that key 'ingredient' to stabilize the genetic strands.

That is why I am here and not out in the Terminus systems. Through the information given to us at the university I found out how genetically diverse humanity is. I might find the key here.

So I answer all of their questions. Making sure that there is a perfect smile on my face at all times. Even when they ask a few questions to close to home. Finally they seem satisfied.

"I think that's enough questions for the moment." The greying admiral stands up and gestures for me to follow him. _I really must learn his name._

The admirals take me to an observation deck overlooking three patients.

"These three patients need your help doctor. No one knows who they are. We found them at an abandoned facility after they had somehow activated an old Eezo reactor." The man narrates to me.

"They have so far not responded to any treatment we have tried so far." The female admiral tells me. "We wish for you to help them."

I move to the window taking in the state of the three patients as I read their medical charts. On the left is patient 1, a young girl estimated to be about 13 with blond hair. So far she is relatively stable, no signs of cancer and exhibiting signs of biotic potential. Average genetic makeup.

Patient 2 is a boy. Estimated to be 15-16 years old with brown hairs and eyes. Suffering adverse effects to biotic exposure. He is showing signs of cancers of the brain, heart and lungs. His genetic structure is showing signs of deterioration.

With Patient 3 I have to double check her notes to make sure I read them correctly. Another young girl possibly older than patient 1. She has red hair and two different coloured eyes. _Huh haven't seen that before. Must be unique to the race._ Already possessing biotic potential before recent exposure. _How do they know that?_ Also on her arms and legs nodules are growing underneath her skin. Not in the usual places. _Could this be due to the fact that she already has nodules from the previous exposure?_

Patient's DNA also shows sigh of extensive genetic engineering. _Guess that explains the eyes_. I don't know much about humans yet, but I would guess her looks, abilities and intelligence have been enhanced. _This probably cost a lot. Why abandon her?_ After I finish reading I turn around to address the admirals.

"Do you have any information about the Eezo core? The length of time they were there?" I look at each of them.

The female Admiral speaks. "We do have footage of what happened and all of the details of the exposure will be made available to you in due course."

 _Oh this is going to be fun. "_ I thought you said the facility was abandoned? How do you have footage?" I ask trying to keep the sarcasm out of my voice.

The man looks amused. The woman angry. As they both start to respond I talk over them. "Do you think you're the first race to experiment with biotics? Especially on people no one will notice? The Salarians started a year after meeting us. The Turians a couple of months."

"If you want my help you **will** be honest with me. Otherwise I am gone." At this point I wonder if I pushed them too far.

The man turns to the woman. "I like this woman. I can call you a woman right?"

I can tell from the way he said it that he knows he is incorrect. That he is trying to antagonise me. It won't work. So I stand there in silence.

When he sees that I won't respond he continues. "You are correct. We are trying to perfect the creation of biotics in humans. To be honest we were expecting you to realise this. If you hadn't we would've gotten rid of you."

He smiles an infuriating smile and looks at me. "I'm sure you know what I mean."

At this point I see six guards make their presence known. They form a sphere around me. So if I try to make a move, one of them will be able to kill me. _I won't let them know that though._

"Do you really think six guards can stop me?" I ask as I inspect my hands, then once I am finished flexing them. Trying to make it sound that like they don't bother me at all.

"Of course they can. It's not like you can stop them with your all powerful biotics is it?"

I look at him. _No. He couldn't possible know could he?_ If I try to make a move they will all know. Looks like I have no other choice but to play along.

"That will not be necessary." I make sure to look and sound confident as I say it.

"I think it is time we let you in on a little secret. You **are** going to work with us whether you like it or not. Though your cooperation with us on this matter will be appreciated."

I nod. So they take me into another lab. Here they show me the footage of the children. Seems like any other experiment into biotic potential, to see what happens when people are exposed to the Eezo dust. Until I see what happens to the red-headed girl. I've never seen that happen before. Whenever other races has tried to re-expose their 'willing' test subjects to Eezo I have never seen the dust behave like that before.

 _So what is different about this one?_ It is going to be fun trying to work that out.

Ignoring the last words spoken to me I speak. "I think we can work out something that will be beneficial to all of us."

They don't interrupt me so I continue. "You want me to stabilise the patients? Assuming you also want to make them into weapons? This I guarantee. But I want to continue my own research as well."

The female admiral asks. "And what research is that?"

"None of your concern. You let me do my work or I am gone."

Now male speaks "As long as you prioritise our wants. You can do what you want in your free time."

I smile. "Agreed."

Over the next month I stabilise the three of them as best I can. The younger girl is the easiest. She is also a delight to speak to. Seems to have an extreme prejudice against alien species. Not that it matters to me. After the surgery for my modified amp, she can soon start being tested to see how strong her potential is.

The male is the worst. I can barely stop him from deteriorating. The best I can say for him is that he will be useful for testing any new drugs/treatments before using it on the girls.

The older girl _Isabella I think her name is. At least that is who the annoying girl keeps asking for._ She is a conundrum. Though she has recovered from the ordeal, she is still in extreme pain from the nodules that are growing underneath the skin of her arms and legs. She is the key to my research, I know it. But if she goes insane through the pain she will be of no use to me.

So we get her sedated and pump her with as much pain relief as we can. Still that is not enough. There is only one other thing that I can think of that would help. If I meld with her I believe that I can distract her mind from the pain. At least until her body settles down. _I will have to keep a firm grip on her mind so that she doesn't wonder._

So at the end of the first month after I have mentally prepared myself for the human's stupidity, I find a comfy chair and sit myself behind her head. As I do this her eyes look at me inquisitively. I have to applaud her ability to function even remotely with the pain she is currently enduring. (To be able to meld with her I have brought her out of the sedation.)

I look her in the eyes. "Isabella. I am going to try something to help you. Do you know what a meld is?"

I have my explanation ready. I do not expect the human do have even heard of this before. But to my surprise she nods. _Well this well go a lot smoother than what I was expecting._

So I respond. "Good then you know what will happen. If we do this on a regular basis, it is my belief that you will pull through this difficult period."

I can see the sweat starting to cover her face. How she is starting to squirm underneath the covers of her bed, the pain is building. I need to act now.

So when she nods again I try to say in a comforting manner. "Good, now embrace eternity!"

As our minds join I make sure to seal off the thoughts I have that, she doesn't need to know about. She will only see what I need her to see. Then when this is over she will give me everything that I need from her. Then after all these centuries I can finally be complete.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author Note:** **Hi all. Happy belated N7 day! Last chapter I forgot to add that I was going to do a chapter from someone else's view. Not sure how often I will do it. Anyway back to the story!**

 **Chapter 7: Isabella aged 14 Melding**

With that we joined. It felt like I had disappeared from the room and ended up in a empty space. It was only the second time in my life that I screamed. Whenever I read about an Asari's meld they always described it as a peaceful, relaxing process. But what I felt was nothing like that at first. When I opened my eyes, I could see nothing and feel nothing.

Then the Asari appeared in front of me. When I tried to back away from her, she laughed at me harshly. "Oh foolish human. I thought you knew about melds?"

At the time I wondered what she meant. But now I realise, there was no where I could off ran to. So instead I tried to hide my fear. I asked her who she was. She informed me that she was a doctor and that she was here to help me. From the way she said it I wasn't so sure.

"I don't care." She said to me as she folded her arms underneath her breasts. _They are really, really big._ I end up staring at them. I feel my cheeks heat up at the thought of them. At this point I started to suspect that I might be attracted to both sexes.

"Stop thinking about them right now." She said to me in a low menacing voice.

 _How on Earth does she know? Was I that obvious? Then I understand. We are in a meld, she can hear my every thought._ I look at her to see if she responds.

She pinches the bridge of her nose. Clearly getting agitated. "Again I thought you knew how this worked?"

"I d-do." I manage to stammer out. _God she must think I am an idiot._

"We don't have time for this."

So she explains to me why we are doing this. That we have to distract my mind from the pain, if I want to get through this in one piece. She tells me to think of something that will calm me. A place where I feel safe. But I can't. As soon as she mentioned the pain, it was the only thing I could think about. So I hold my head in my hands trying to block everything out.

She sighs. "Why do I have to do everything?"

The world shifts around us. We find ourselves at clear sandy beach in the middle of the night. I look out to the sea. The waves are small so the water barely reaches our feet. There is no one else around. I can't help but find it beautiful. I smile as I look at her.

"I always wanted to go to the beach. I've never had the chance to go before." I tell her truthfully.

She walks around the beach. "This is a small private beach south of Theesia's capital. I came here a lot when I was a child. I always think of this place when I need to calm myself."

She is right. I do feel better. I have always wanted to explore the galaxy. To see all of the sights that I possibly could. I guess this could be a good start.

"Thank you for trying to help me"

"It's my job" she kneels down so that she is at my eye level. "Let me show you around."

So she shows me around all of the main tourist spots of Theesia that she has visited. I can't keep the smile off of my face. There are so many wondrous places on this planet. Unlike London (and I presume the rest of Earth) the buildings all look natural. Like they were always there. It also seems that they like their spiral designs as well. The night sky is always clear and the stars, I swear that they sparkle.

We spent the most amount of time in the university where she used to work. (This was the only piece of information she give me no matter how many questions that I asked.) The place is enormous. I do wish there were other Asari walking around. To see what this place must be like during the day. _Plus I might see some hotter Asari._ I cringe when I remember that she can hear me.

I turn around expecting a lecture of some kind but she isn't there. _I wonder where she has gone?_ I think to myself. So I decide to go look for her. I finally find her in the library. I breathe a sigh of relief when I see her. I started getting seriously creeped out walking around here on my own. It looks like she is reading one of the books.

When she doesn't acknowledge my presence I pick a random book from one of the shelfs. I open it up to find it blank. _Why is it blank?_

"Because I haven't read that book." I jump a mile when she speaks.

She walks up to me and hands me another book that seemed to materialise out of nowhere. "This was one of my favourites when I was younger. Before you asked _yes_ I have translated it into English."

I stare at the cover. 'The first Justicar.' From the back cover it looks like a dramatized retelling of how the Justicar order started. It looks like nothing else will be happening so I find a comfy space to sit and start to read.

After what feels like no time at all she stands next to me and takes my hand. "Time to go."

"Oh already?" I hate the whine in my voice. _It was just getting good!_

"Yes, you've recovered enough that we don't need to do this now".

And with that she ended the meld. I awoke in the lab bed. Feeling very sore but at least the majority of the pain had gone. The Asari walks around the bed. She looks a little tired. Then I look down at my arms. I can see the bumps that now cover most of them. I run my fingers over them. I immediately regret doing that when I feel a sharp burst of pain. _Note to self do not do that._

"I would advise against doing that for the moment. Hopefully over time the pain will lessen. If you will excuse me I need to check on one of the other patients." With that she walks to the door. I didn't realise it was there at first. Until she starts to open it. _Looks like I'm not getting any privacy while I am here._ As I work out the entire section of the wall is see through.

She presses a button by the side of the door and I can hear her voice. Looks like there are speakers in the ceiling. "My name is Denna Va'Senna. I will be treating and training you for the duration of your stay."

With that she nods and walks away. I take the opportunity to have a look around where I am. Looks like I am in a standard hospital bed. There is a drip in the crook of my arm that leads to one of those bags that usually contains drugs or something like that. Behind the bed there are a dew medical machines though I have no idea what they do. They're not making any sort of beeping noise so I will assume that they are off.

I decide to have a look around. So I gently pull the needle out of my arm. It hurts but after what I just experienced it feels like nothing. I get out of my bed and that is when I notice that my legs look just like my arms. Every step I make is followed by a sharp pain.

I can't find anything else in the room so I try the door. I pull as hard as I can but it doesn't budge. I want to find Sasha and John. I shout and slam at the door but nothing happens. _What am I going to do?_

I pace around, trying to think of a way out. Then it hits me. _Why don't I try my biotics?_ So I summon my power. But something is different. Before it felt calm and a light blue aura surrounded me. Now the aura is a deep purple and the energy is wild and feels like it is coming off of me in waves. A pressure starts building in my head, quickly turning painful.

As I feel the pain reaching the levels I felt before the meld I push it all forward. The door explodes outwards and glass starts flying everywhere. The wall opposite me also has a huge dent in it. A warning siren starts blasting out from the speakers.

Four guards surround me with their guns pointed at me.

"It was an accident." I whisper. From the looks on their faces, I think they are going to shoot me.

The doctor runs up to us from end of the corridor. Standing between us she shouts. "Guns down Morons! She didn't know she could do that! Go back into the bed Isabella."

I do as she commands. This shouldn't be possible but somehow I am totally exhausted. As I hear an argument start I quickly fall to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author Note:** _Something I have found while writing_ _is that it kind of gets away from you. I always end up splitting up my original chapter ideas to keep the length down._

 **Chapter 8: Isabella aged 15 Training**

I wake up as the alarm goes off and try not to groan as I see the time. I still feel sore after all of the training I have been doing to prepare me for today. To see if I can take on trained mercenaries in a biotic battle.

I get out of the bed and stretch my muscles. As there is a guard outside I activate the privacy screen so I can get dressed. From my set of draws I grab my Alliance issued training gear which consists of a black t-shirt and shorts with plain white trainers. I walk to the opposite side of the bed to check my reflection in the mirror. _Looks like I'm in need of a haircut._ My red hair reaches past my shoulders so I put it into a bun.

From my desk I pick up my latest amp and plug it into the back of my neck. Now that I am ready to go I wait for the door to unlock and open.

After my eventful awakening nearly a year ago a lot has changed. When I woke up I found myself in a totally different room from the one I went to sleep in. _The big clue was that the door wasn't blown out._ I couldn't see the doctor anywhere so I called out to see if anyone was listening. After a couple of minutes an important looking woman walked in.

She introduced herself as an Admiral Anderson. Apparently after being exposed to the Eezo engine I was miraculously rescued from the evil men by the Alliance. Ever since then they have been trying everything in their power to help us. This resulted in them seeking help from outside the human race. Hence Dr Va'Senna.

Even with her help they were unable to save John. The men that were experimenting on us didn't make it out of the room alive. The only survivors were the three of us. The bad guys were dead blah blah blah. I didn't believe a word of it.

After explaining what happened she laid down some ground rules for my 'safety'.

I am not to engage my biotics without express permission. (At this point I decided to see what would happen if I did use them. Nothing happened except for a blinding headache.) She notices this and explains that there are biotic dampeners active all over the facility and to try to use my abilities in unauthorised areas would be detrimental to my health. _Yeah no shit._

I am not to leave the facility. (Biotics are apparently facing a lot of fear and mistrust. _Wow I missed that somehow I think sarcastically._ )

I will obey my instructors without question.

If I obey and behave like a good little girl I will be rewarded. I ask after Sasha. She has been awake for a couple of days and has been very uncooperative so far. I was then given the tour of the facility. In the areas that I am allowed in are my 'room', the gym, an outside area, the lab and the training room. As we walk I notice another room like mine that is locked and impossible to see into. When I asked what was in there I was told that it is a storage area. _Yeah right. Something bad is happening in there._

Until I can get them to trust me, they are going to be watching me 24 hours a day. So I decide to play along. To be a good little soldier. So I play along and I am rewarded. I get to have my own things. A proper bed, a set of drawers, clothes etc. I will admit it does make life here more comfortable.

I will escape this place soon. Now after a year I am now allowed some freedoms. I can walk around the facility on my own during the day as long as I turn up to training etc at the correct times. (Once my door has unlocked first thing in the morning.) When they finally allow me to use my biotics at any time I will get out of here. Hopefully with Sasha. I can't leave her in this place.

She is the big flaw in the plan at the moment. She hardly ever cooperates with the people here. Meaning that I can never get her on her own. She is escorted everywhere. The few times we have managed to have a whispered conversation in the outside area all she does is ignore or throw insults at me. I can't tell her about my plan, about how I am only playing along. My growing friendship with Dr Va'Senna doesn't help either. (She blames her as an alien for what has happened to us.)

When the door opens I see the doctor waiting for me on the other side. I smile at her and in return I receive a small smile back from her.

"Come along _Casin_ I want to make sure you are ready before the mercenaries turn up." She says to me in a slightly nervous voice.

Casin is an asari world. Basically it means two things in one. I assume she uses the word because of my eyes.

After I use my biotics for a long time or after one of my surgeries my body aches and I usually end up in a lot of pain. Anaesthetics don't seem to work for me as long as they should do. So we end up melding a lot.

I have learnt a lot from sharing her mind. I find it easier to learn from her than the instructors that they bring in occasionally. Though she complains a lot when she does teach me she explains things to me in a way that I can understand. So at the moment I can create Barriers, Lifts, Singularities, Stasis fields, Throws and Warps.

I have also learned a lot about her personally. What she went through when she was a child. The ridicule she suffered. We've bonded a bit over this. She very rarely talks about it. I think she only does it because the more we share the easier it becomes for us to meld and spend longer amounts of time in each other's minds. I hope not. A growing piece of me wants her to like me.

The Dr has also shown me a lot about the Asari and their culture. I love learning about them. I sometimes wish I had been born one. They seem so knowledgeable and to be able to live that long and experience so much. We must seem like little children to them.

The most personal piece of information about herself that she has revealed to me is that she is very religious. Ever since we started doing this I noticed that the doctor would disappear when I was reading books in the library. It took me about 6 months to work up the courage to see where she was going.

Outside the library I found a big sorta scary building that I had never seen before when she has shown me around Thessia. (I guess the only things that appear are ones that she wants to appear.) It took all of my courage to go have a look inside the building. In there I found what I can only describe as 'church-like'. There were also a lot of objects in glass cases around the edge of the room and a giant statue at the front of the room where I saw the doctor praying.

Seeing her there I decided it would be a good idea to leave and hope she hadn't seen me. That hope was very quickly dismissed. As I turned around I she had somehow materialized in front of me.

"What are you doing here?" she asked me barely concealing her anger.

I decided that honesty was the best policy. "I wondered where you disappear too when I am reading."

"I come here to pray here. At the temple of Athame." She replied to my question.

I look her straight in the eyes as I try not to mumble. _She hates it when I mumble._ "I will go back. I am sorry for disturbing you." For some strange reason I felt like bowing after saying that.

As I reach the door exiting the temple she said to me in a loud clear voice. "Wait."

So I stop not knowing what to do next. I wasn't sure if it would be better to leave. What she said next surprised me.

"I don't know if you are religious or not. But would you like to pray with me?"

I wasn't sure what to do next so I went back down to the statue and prayed.

Ever since then whenever we have melded we have also prayed. After each session Dr Va'Senna would explain to me all about the goddess Athame. How in the Asari culture nowadays the religion is no longer widely practiced. Most of the Asari people now follow the Siari religion. How when we die we return to the universe.

Instead she follows the codex of Athame. Faith, honour and justice are paramount. To be honest at first I just paid lip service to what she was saying. But I don't know, somehow over time it started to mean something to me. I want to believe that everything that has happened to me has been for a reason. That by following these rules my life will get better.

With these talks we have been growing closer. She has promised to take me to the temple once I am free to leave this place. _She is going to be pissed when I run away with Sasha._ She can't hear me when I think like this now in the meld. I found a way to hide my thoughts a couple of months ago.

If I try hard enough I can hide what I am really thinking about by associating it with something else. What I do is hum a tune to myself (a song that I remember vaguely from when I was little. From before my biotics, when I still had a mother. So when I think about escaping I hum it.

But back to the here and now. So I follow the doctor to the training room. As we walk past it I check to see if the locked door is still locked. _Nope still locked._ I **will** find out what is in there. If John is in there I will rescue him.

As we enter the training area Dr Va'Senna said "warm up. They will be here soon."

So as I wait I do some stretching exercises in preparation. I make sure not to look at my body. Even after all this time I still hate looking at my Eezo nodules. But I keep my face neutral. I am really tired of people giving me false sympathy.

As I get mid way through the exercises the commandos walk in. There are four of them. They're kitted out in armour. Looks to be a dirty yellow colour with some sort of flaming sun that circles most of their chests. _I feel a bit underdressed._

A turquoise coloured Asari with black markings just below her eyes that kind of look like tears walks right up to me and then ignoring me and looking at Dr Va'Senna says. "Is this little thing what you are paying me to beat up? This won't take long."

She take a step back and gets into a combat stance and looks at me expectantly. So I smile sweetly at her and engage my biotics. I see a look of surprise quickly flicker across her face. _This might be fun._

It's not that my biotics look unstable that surprises her. It's the amount of dark energy that I am 'venting' from my back. (I kinda think that it looks like I have wings.) Basically I produce too much energy and when I am not using it on a specific move I need to get rid of the excess energy. Now I can do this almost unconsciously. But it took a long time to learn. Dr Va'Senna was relentless. She would make me do it at random times. In the middle of the night. When I was eating. Basically whenever it was most inconvenient. But it was worth it. I get a heck of a lot less headaches now and I don't create biotic explosions when I have been trying to do something else. This has meant that I can do this while walking, running, fighting, being hit etc.

As she froze I made the first move. I pulled her towards me and increased the mass of my right hand and punched her. I wasn't expecting her to go flying into the far wall with quite so much force. _She didn't have a barrier up. That will teach her._

The other mercenaries just stare at me shocked. Not expecting little old me to pack that much of a punch. So I can't help but say smugly. "Next."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Isabella aged 15 Revelations**

As they take the injured asari off to who knows where the other three mercenaries give me the evil eye. _This is going to end oh so well._

"Well done Casin. Let's see how well you do against two of them." Dr Va'Senna nods her head and smiles at me as she says this.

Instead of two of them approaching me all three of them do. A human male, a second asari and a krogan male. _I'm pretty sure that this is a setup for a joke. Or it would be if they didn't look so murderous._

The doc goes to direct one of them back but the krogan speaks in a deep gravelly voice. "For that offence she faces all of us. Either that or we leave. You **will** pay us either way."

With that they surround me. The krogan stands a few feet in front of me. _I guess from what I have been told of krogan fighting techniques I am going to take a wild guess that he is going to charge me._ The human male stands behind me. From what I can see he doesn't have an amp of any kind so I don't think he is biotic at all. _I guess he is there to stop me from running away._ The other asari stands to my left. Her hands are engulfed in biotic fire. _She looks very pissed. I kinda hope she isn't related to the first asari._

My heart starts beating really fast. So I try taking a couple of deep breaths to calm myself down. _They want to hurt me._ I glance around the room to see if anyone is going to help me. No one moves. Not even the doc. She just stands there. _Guess this is down to me then._

I don't know where the bravado comes from but I look at each of them in turn and say in an almost bored voice. "Here is how this is going to go. When you go back to your bosses you are going to lie. You will be all beaten up and they are going to be all like _what happened?_ Here you will lie and say that there were 4 or more biotics. It really depends on how cowardly you are. But that you won in the end. Not that you were beaten by one. Little. Girl."

I finish off my speech with a smile and a bow to each of them. _Man where did that come from?_

With that the krogan starts charging and the asari tries to catch me in a stasis field. With my own biotics I redirect the stasis at the man behind me. _That stasis was weak._ Before she can react I decide to do something really stupid.

As the krogan gets closer I increase my mass and charge him. Hopefully I can knock him out and concentrate on the other two. As I hit him I bite down a scream as I feel something snap in my right hand. _I guess aiming for the front of his head was a bad idea._ But at least I stagger him. He walks off looking dazed. I think I may have dented his head plate thingy.

As the man behind me is locked in stasis I decide to concentrate on the asari. As I keep the right hand behind me to avoid accidentally using it I turn to her, her arms are still encased in biotic fire.

I'm starting to sweat as my hand throbs. Being cocky worked before so I try it again. "One hand tied behind my back. This _might_ be a bit more interesting now."

It doesn't work this time around. She just watches me. _Guess I move first._ So I decide to test the strength of her biotics. I throw a couple of warps at her lazily, trying to make it look like I am tiring out. I really sell it with some grunts of pain. After a third warp I fall to my knees.

I have a plan for what to do next. If I am lucky and she acts like I want her to she will throw a warp at me now. Instead of deflecting it, I let the warp lift me off of the ground. As I finish my first rotation in the air I can see her smiling evilly at me. This is when I react.

The doctor has taught me a lot about how most biotics fight / are taught the past year. Fun Fact: Against a single opponent after a warp is thrown the vast majority of biotics let their guard down. The sensation of floating in the air is foreign to most people and they don't know how to react. So the biotic can usually finish him/her off at their own time.

So instead of panicking I remain calm. I charge at her. Trying to do this when not on the ground usually ends up with me face planting the floor but I manage to hit her with most of my body on her shins. This causes her to lose her balance and she falls over. Before she can get up again I aim a kick at her head. As she isn't wearing head protection it looks like I have knocked her out.

I pull myself to my feet and try to catch my breath. I can feel the aches starting to build in my body from the fighting. This is the point where I remember the third guy. _Crap I let my barriers down._ As the asari is knocked out the Stasis that he was caught in vanishes. As I start to turn I feel a sharp pain on my left side.

I fall over again with the guy on top of me. As I fall on my right hand I scream out in pain. Sensing victory the guy (who I now notice is bald) raises his knife for another strike. With my good hand I try and stop him. But with the pain I am in, I am finding it extremely difficult to engage my biotics.

As the knife gets closer and closer to me I try and get someone's attention. The guards are dealing with the krogan as he stumbles about. Dr Va'Senna just stands there. As I try to say her name she shakes her head at me. _No one is going to help me_ I realize. With that thought the knife starts to dig into my skin. I try to stop the scream that is building in the pit of my stomach. But I fail and with that scream I somehow create a biotic explosion from my body that throws him off.

A wave of exhaustion hits and it leaves me breathless. So I lay on the floor and try to check my injuries. Looking at my right hand it looks like I broke a couple of fingers. _They are pointing at weird angles_. With my good hand I check first my chest just above my breastbone. Looks like the knife didn't go too far, there is just a small river of blood pumping from the wound. So I check my left side. That wound is a lot worse than I originally thought. There is a large gash stretching from my back to front, just above my kidney. Blood is leaking out of there so I put my hand there to try to stop the blood. It isn't working.

As I look around for Dr Va'Senna I notice the state of the ground around me. It looks like it has been burnt. _Did I do that?_ Further away from me I see what I can only describe as a burning mass. _Is that the bald guy?_ While I think that, the pain starts to rapidly decline. I look up to see the unconcerned face of the doctor. As I watch her work I slip out of consciousness.

I wake with a start in my bed having no idea how much time has passed. It must still be daytime because as I look around the door to my room is open and I can't see any guards about. As I slowly get up a hiss of pain escapes my lips.

Though I feel a lot better than the last time I was conscious I decide to double check my wounds. I look underneath my hospital gown. The one on my chest has gone _medigel sure does work wonders,_ but there are bandages covering my side.

I sit there for a couple of minutes expecting someone to come check on me now that I am awake. But when no one comes I get out of bed. I don't have the energy to change so I walk out and look up and down the hall. _Huh no one is around at all._ So I walk around the facility and still I see no one. _This has got to be some kind of test._

I stop and think about what on earth they want me to do. Then it hits me. _The locked room._ So I walk there and guess what? Though you still can't see into the room the door is slightly ajar. _Do I go in? Or do I go back to my room?_ This is what they want to test me on. Will I be a good little girl and go back to my room. _Fuck that._

So I enter the room. When I see him laid there I gasp "John?"

It may have been a year, he may have lost weight and all of the hair on his head has gone but I still recognise him. The colour of his skin looks wrong, there are tubes in his mouth and he is connected to a lot of machines which are steadily blipping.

I walk over to him taking his hand. "What have they done to you?" I manage to say before the tears start to come.

From behind me I hear that voice. I would never forget it. The man who put us in that room with the Eezo engine. The graying haired man.

"See Doctor, I knew she wouldn't be as obedient as you said she would be."

I look over my shoulder and see three people there. Dr Va'Senna looking angry. The graying haired man in some sort of military uniform. _From the amount of medals on it I guess he must be important_. Then finally another man in a guard outfit. I look between the two of them. They have the same eyes and similar faces. _They must be family._

I don't try to engage my biotics. There is no way they would have come close to me like this if they could use them.

So instead I take a combat stance. I know I won't win but they are not taking me without a fight.

"What have you done to him?" I shout.

"Kept him alive. He has been very useful. The amps and surgeries, you know everything we did to make your life better. We tested it on him first. Anyway he doesn't mind and it has helped the Doctor immensely." He tells me this quite happily not a care in the world. _He's first._

I edge slowly towards them, to get within distance so I can make my move the doc says to me in a strict loud voice. "Casin go back to your room this instance."

"No you bitch. I can't believe I trusted you." With that I leap at them.

But the guard reacts quicker. As I try to aim a punch at the graying haired man he punches me in the stomach. As the air leaves my lungs he punches me in the face and I collapsed on the floor.

"Take her back to her room Corporal Petrovsky." The graying haired man says. From the tone of his voice I guess I really pissed him off. _Guess he must be a Petrovsky as well._

When he picks me up I try to struggle and get out of his grip. That's when they inject me with something and I go limp. I try to move but nothing works. All I can do is breathe and move my eyes around.

They take me to my room and put me in the bed. The older Petrovsky walks up to me. It looks like he has picked up some kind of device. He also has a serious expression on his face now. _First time I haven't seen him smiling._

"Now **girl** it's time you learnt some truths. You belong to us. You will be a weapon for humanity. The first of many. The good doctor here will see to that." With that he pats her on the arm.

He starts stroking my hair. "You failed your final test. You've killed now but you're not loyal to us. That will have to change."

 _I haven't killed. I would never do that without knowing._ Somehow he knows what I am thinking. He smiles. "Yes you did. That little explosion you did at the end of the fight. That burnt that poor man to death. Very impressive."

"The doctor here will see to your loyalty issues in a moment. But first you need a reminder not to raise your fists to us again."

He passes the device he was holding to Dr Va'Senna and she lifts the gown up so that my stomach is exposed. She presses the device against my skin and it feels like my skin is on fire. Once she is done she holds up a mirror so that I can see what has happened. To the left of my belly button is a number 13. It covers most of the left hand side of my body.

"You are not unique. We can finds others. As you can now probably guess you are the thirteenth attempt at a biotic super solider. So I would advise behaving from now on or we will find someone else." The older man brushes my hair again and leaves with the guard.

"Let me know when she is ready to talk"

The Doc walks to the bed so that she is level with my head. "There is nothing you can do to stop me but it is common courtesy to let you know what is going to happen. I am going to have to change your memories. Implant some new ones so that you behave. At least until I get what I want."

 _She is going to do what? No that shouldn't be possible._ But I know that they can share memories with others. _Who says that they have to be real? And if you can give memories why can't you take them as well?_

As she settles herself and I can see her eyes starting to change I panic. _What can I do?_ I think of what I have done before to hide things from her. I hum the tune in my head and think about what I want to hide. _Sasha, John and Ms Shepard. Who they are, what they mean to me._

I feel her enter my mind. Unlike before it's not gentle. She breezes past the barriers I put up in my head to keep her out. She starts straight away. Ripping memories from my head. I thought with everything I had been through I knew what pain was. But losing pieces of yourself. There are no words to describe it.

I can't pass out. But it feels like I zone out. I stop resisting. The last thought that passes in my head that I know is truly mine is: _I didn't hide anything about me._


End file.
